William k



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.-

XVILLIAM K. FRALEY, OF LEBANON, ASSIG-NOR OF ONE-HALF TO ROBERT SILVER, OF INDIANAPOLTS, INDIANA.

VEHICLE.

$PECIPICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 357,956, dated February 15, 1857.

Application filed July 29, 1886.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM K. FRALEY, of the city of Lebanon, county of Boone, and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and usefullmprovements in Vehicles, of which the following is a specification.

My said invention relates to that class of vehicles the bodies of which are supported by springs; and it consists, principally, in pro viding bars or levers which extend from the side bars or frame-work of the running-gear to the center, and are there so connected as to prevent the usual rocking or swaying of the body.

It further consists in the combination of such parts with a central spring connected thereto, in the manner hereinafter more particularly described and claimed.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, which are made a parthereof, and on which similar letters of reference indicate similar parts, Figure 1 is a front elevation of a buggy-body provided with my improvements, the side bars being cut in section to show the levers and spring more clearly; Fig. 2, a central vertical section through the spring and the immediate adjacent parts on the dotted lines 2 2 in Figs. 3 and 4, on an enlarged scale; Fig. 3, a transverse vertical section of the same on the dotted line 3 3 in Fig. 2, and Fig. 4 a transverse vertical section through the clips in which the levers are fulcrumed on the dotted line 4c 4 in Fig. 2.

In said drawings the portions marked A represent the body of the vehicle; B, a bar socured thereto, which forms the base or frame for the spring; 0, said spring, D, the sidebars or frame-work of the runninggear, and E the levers connected to said side bars mounted upon pivots or fulcrums connected to the bar B, and connected at the inner ends to the spring.

The vehicle-body A is any ordinary body or upper portion of a vehicle.

The bar B is astraight plain piece of timber secured to the under side of said body. \Vhere a spring of the style illustrated is used, it has a central opening large enough to receive all but the outer coil of said spring, and at each side of said opening there is preferably a slot through which the bolts securing the clips (in Serial No. 209,392. (No model.)

which the levers are fulcrunied) pass, and thus said clips and levers are rendered adjustable,

as will be hereinafter more fully described.

The spring G is shown as a coiled spring, but may be any spring desired, although I regard a coiled spring as the best for my purpose. It is secured to the bar B by bolts 0, and a bolt, 0, having a bifurcated lower end, is secured to its central coil.

The side bars or frame-work, D, are or may be of any ordinary or desired construction. Clips d are secured thereto, to which the ends of the levers E are attached.

The levers E are pivoted or fulcrumed in clips E, which are secured to the bar B by bolts 6, passing through slots therein,as shown most plainly in Figs. 2 and 4. They are secured, as before stated, to clips (I on the side bars or frame-work D, by means of pivots or bolts (1. Their inner ends are slotted, and said slots pass over a pivot-bolt, c, which passes through the bifurcated lower end of the bolt 0. These slots not only permit the desired freedom of motion of the body and the spring, but permit the parts to be longitudinally adjusted so that the fulcrums may be nearer to or farther from the pivot-bolt c, and thus the power of the spring increased or decreased, as will be readily understood, and also to permit the device to be applied to vehicles where the side bars are different distances apart. As will be observed, these levers not only serve as a means of utilizing the spring force of the spring 0, but also as stays or braces to prevent lateralinovement or rocking of the vehicle-body, they being attached both to the frame-work of the running-gear and to the bar B, which is secured to said body. This object could not well be accomplished without the slots in the inner ends of said levers, and therefore said slots are important as a featur of my invention.

I am aware that vehicles have heretofore been constructed with levers fulcrumed on parts secured to the under side of the body, and having one end connected to the axles or side bars and the other end to the body,or aspriug at its center, and I therefore do not claim the construction broadly, but limit myself to the particular construction and arrangement of parts herein shown, and set forth in the claims.

secured to the spring 0, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination, in a vehicle, ofthe body A, bar B, secured on the under side ofsaid body transversely thereof, the spring 0, mounted in a central opening in said bar, and having a bifurcated bolt, 0, secured to its center and extending down therefrom, the side bars, D, and levers E, fulcrumed in the clips E, adjustably mounted on the under side of said bar B, one end of said levers being attached to said bars, and their other ends being each formed with a longitudinal slot and mounted on the transverse bolt cin the lower end of the bifurcated bolt 0, whereby said levers are adapted to slide 7 to permit the sway of thebody, and also to permit the adjustment of the fulcruins, as herein shown and described.

In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal, at Indianapolis, Indiana, this 24th day of July, A. D. 1886.

WM. K. FRALEY. [L. s.]

In presence of G. BRADFORD, CHARLES L. THUR'BER. 

